


Who's That Stranger You've Spoken Of Before?

by thecattydddy



Series: The Stranger Series [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, M/M, i dont really know just read it please, sads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-02 11:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecattydddy/pseuds/thecattydddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bro never really talked about his love life very much, but when a stranger named Jake suddenly shows up at the Strider’s apartment, Dave realize just how bad it really is and decides to help out a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who's That Stranger You've Spoken Of Before?

Dave shifted the weight of his backpack as he took out his apartment key, sticking it in the slot and turning to unlock the door. Tossing his bag beside the door, Dave relocked the entrance and called a greeting to his guardian.

“Yo! Bro! I’m home!”

“Dave!” his brother called back, very much unlike him, “I’m in the kitchen! Come here!” Dave raised an eyebrow, but complied, stalking towards the kitchen. He noticed the lack of smuppets and other ironic shit his brother always had. It was more unsettling than the things themselves, really. When he finally arrived in the _spotless_ kitchen, he was completely and utterly confused.

“Yeah?” Dave questioned, spotting his brother actually using the kitchen table. Sitting in one of the other two chairs was another man he didn’t recognize.

“I’d like you to meet someone,” Bro explained, a little too excited to be considered ironic, “Dave? This is Jake. Jake? This is my baby brother, Dave.”

“It’s an honour to meet you, Dave,” Jake smiled at him, kindly enough. His words were laced with an English accent. English… It reminded Dave of a certain memory.

_“You can’t help me with relationship advice,” Dave rolled his eyes, like Bro’s offer was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard._

 

_“I can so,” Bro insisted, “You act like I’ve never been in a steady relationship before.”_

_“You haven’t,” Dave returned, simply._

_“Not since you came around, no,” he agreed, “But I used to have both boys and girls looking to get a piece of this fine ass back in the day.”_

_“Oh yeah? Prove it,” Dave challenged._

_“Fine,” Bro accepted, pulling out his wallet, showing off a picture he kept tucked behind his Fabric Barn coupons. Dave snatched it up, Bro’s eyes widening in alarm, but he let him take it._

_“Careful,” he muttered. Dave inspected the picture of two boys standing together. He recognized  one of them only by the ironic sunglasses he wore. That was Bro who had his arm wrapped around the other’s waist. Turning his attention to the other, Dave inspected the messy-haired boy with an eye color he couldn’t really tell because they were closed in happiness as he kissed the side of Bro’s face, making him jump in surprise. The edges of the photo were faded, like it’d been taken some time ago._

_“Who is this?” Dave wondered, “You never told me about him.”_

_“Just some dude,” Bro insisted, tucking the picture away in safety._

_“Obviously not, if you keep a picture of him in your wallet.”_

_Bro sighed, turning to Dave with a fond smile, “His name was English.”_

_“Did you love him?” Dave raised an eyebrow._

_“What kind of stupid as fuck question is that?” Bro demanded._

_“Just answer the question, dumbass,” Dave narrowed his eyes in annoyance._

_“Maybe.”_

_“So… Why aren’t you together, then?” Dave pressed._

_“It…” Bro’s face fell, drastically, “We broke it off. It really wasn’t working for either of us.”_

_“Did something happen?” Dave inquired._

_“We’re not talking about me, Lil Man,” Bro rolled his eyes, “We’re talking about your massive girl crush on this Egbert kid.” He said it with a laugh, but it was bitter and Dave could tell he didn’t want to resurface the memory._

“Is this…?” Dave asked, to which Bro cut him off, quickly.

“Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Oh, so you’ve been talking about me?” Jake chuckled, looking at Bro.

“Yeah, well,” Dirk grumbled, “We were best bros, Man. ‘Course I mentioned you once or twice.” Dave wasn’t going to mention how he’d only mentioned him that one time. Or the fact both of them frowned a little when Dirk said bros, like that was all they’d been. It must have been fairly awkward for both of them.

“So, Dave,” Jake changed the subject, “Your brother was telling me how you’re a student. How is that going?”

“Alright,” Dave shrugged.

“You aren’t having trouble in any of your classes?”

“Nope.”

“Well, aren’t you a chatty one,” he laughed, “I’ll stop bothering you now, my boy. I’m sure you have _things_ to get to.” He left that hang in the air and Dave absconded with only a curt nod. He had a particular blue-eyed boy to subtly flirt with, anyways.

`_`_`_`_`_`_`

“Dirk,” Dave paused in his descent down the stairs, hearing the sound of the English boy ‘s voice say his brother’s name. He almost forgot it was. Nobody who came around ever used it, after all. Not even Bro, himself.

“Jake, I…” he muttered, and Dave risked a peek to see them standing at the door, standing apart by a an inch. The tension that rose between them was almost tangible, not that Dave would be willing to risk a grope in that shit, even if it was. Oh hell no.

“I’d like to see you, again,” Jake sighed, ditching what looked like quite a few other bad ideas as he turned to look at the ground. Bro’s hand twitched, as if to move, but he kept it in place, “Maybe a little sooner, this time. It’s been nearly eighteen years.”

“Kind of just flew by, didn’t it?” Bro stated, quietly.

“I still remember when you used to chat with me,” Jake said, “And you had just gotten custody of Dave? You were freaking out about whether or not babies could eat nachos.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, “Hell, I didn’t know how to take care of kids. I still don’t, to be honest.”

“You seem to have done a fairly good job with Dave,” Jake assured.

“Yeah,” Bro nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, “Not including the sword fighting.”

“ _Sword fighting_?” Jake demanded, “I mean, I’m all for getting them to be tough at an early age and all, but… I don’t see it particularly necessary to actually strife with your baby brother.”

“He’s fine,” Bro waved away.

“You’re impossible, Dirk Strider,” Jake informed, chuckling lightly.

“Yeah, but that’s why you love me,” Bro replied, on instinct. Another awkward silence settled between the two and Dave was just about ready to jump in there and tell them to kiss already, but he wouldn’t. Not only would that not be cool, but Bro would also be pissed about him eavesdropping.

“When can I see you, again?” Jake finally asked, hoping Bro would let it be sooner than later.

“I don’t know,” Bro muttered, “I have a business and a family to run and…”

“It’s okay,” Jake insisted, holding up a hand to stop him, “I understand. Just promise you’ll call if you get the chance?”

“Of course,” Bro forced a smile on his face and Jake returned a weak one.

“I suppose this is good-bye, then,” Jake said, hesitant to go.

Bro really just wanted to drag him back into the house and take him to his bedroom and show him exactly how much he missed him, but he wouldn’t. Those days were over, “I guess so.”

“I’ll see you around, Old Sport,” Jake sighed, staring up at him one last time before swiftly turning on his heel and exiting the apartment. Bro let out a shaky breath as he slid to the floor, back against the wall, pulling the discarded backpack to himself and burying his face in it. It would probably be years before they even spoke, again, and Bro had just let him walk out without anything. He barely stuffed down a sob as he took another heavy breath of air. Dave went to go upstairs, letting his brother have a little privacy. He knew he had to do something about this, though…

Something that he would never do if it wasn’t his stupid older brother involved.

 

`_`_`_`_`_`_`

_turntechGodhead (TG) began pestering tentacleTherapist (TT)._

_TG: rose? i need some help_

_TT: What is it, Dave?_

_TG: its about my bro_

_TT: What about him?_

_TG: he kind of has this stupid love problem and i need advice on how to fix this_

_TT: Well, I think the correct course of action would be to tell you to let them be._

_TT: that they will come to terms with it in their own times_

_TT: BUT considering the fact that you never would have asked me for advice unless you thought it was important…_

_TT: Here’s what you should do:_

Dave had that conversation about a week ago and he finally had everything perfectly in place. Bro had put all his clothing in the laundry about an hour prior and, once he walked away, Dave snuck in one of his red shirts that he knew bled all over everything before inconspicuously walking to the kitchen for some victory AJ.

“DAVE!” came the angry cry from some part of the house and he was about to dash upstairs and to his room, hopefully for safety, when a gloved hand took him by the collar, keeping him from escaping, “What the hell, Lil Man? Do you see this?” He held up one of his shirts, which was dyed pink from tumbling around with the red shirt, “How many fucking times am I going to have to tell you to separate your colors from your whites? Jesus Christ.”

“Whoops,” Dave shrugged, like it was no big deal. He just noticed his brother was standing in the middle on the kitchen with no shirt on. The plan was going exactly the way it was supposed to.

“ _Whoops?_ ” Bro glared, “These are all my clothes, asshole, and all you can say is whoops? You’re lucky my fucking jeans aren’t ruined, as well.” With that, he stalked off, probably to plan some crushing strife on the roof, later. Dave shrugged and went back to his room to wait to execute part two.

“ _DAVE_ ,” his brother threw open his door, a while later, “Where _the fuck_ are my jeans?”

“How would I know?” Dave muttered, not even turning away from his computer, “Maybe someone broke into the house and stole them.”

“If you’re honestly going to tell me right now that someone broke into our house and stole _only those shitty things…_ ” Bro hissed.

“Maybe they didn’t,” Dave replied, “Have you seen Lil Cal, lately?” His face flooded with alarm and he ran out of the room, on a hunt for his little buddy which Dave prided himself on hiding so well, completely oblivious to the fact he was now wearing only his shades, hat and a pair of boxers.

Dave strolled downstairs about twenty minutes later, going for another AJ. A note was left on the counter in orange pen.

_you are so dead as soon as I get figure out where the fuck you put my pants_

 

_bro_

 

Dave smirked and took his beverage to the couch, going to watch some animated Japanese porn or whatever it was called. Anime? Yeah, that was it. He was in the middle of a show that didn’t exactly seem all that pornographic really and kind of just gay when the doorbell rang.

“ _I’m not getting it!”_ Dave called, pretending to be enticed as the american went off about how to defeat the opposing forces or whatever because there was no way in hell he found this show one bit interesting and most definitely hadn’t watched around a two hundred episodes…

Nope.

He was flicked in the back of the head as Bro raced towards the door, probably to chew out whoever _dared_ to visit while he was having such a bad day.

“ _What could possibly be so important that you had to inte_ rru…” his anger trailed off into surprise and a slight bit of embarrassment.

“Um. Hi,” Jake frowned, at his current state, pushing his way inside and handing Bro a bundle in his hands, “Your brother called me the other day… Said you might be needing these. I really wasn’t sure why, but…” His eyes wandered across Bro’s exposed chest, arousal pooling in the pit of his stomach. Bro narrowed his eyes.

“If you’ll excuse me for a mom-” Bro began.

“I’m going out, later!” Dave called, racing past them before either could object or keep him in place. The entire plan would be ruined if Bro decided he’d rather beat the shit out of him than make a move on Jake.

“Oh, he is so dead,” Bro said, trying to mask the pink tinting across his face with a scowl.

“We seem to be alone,” Jake mentioned, eyes still ogling his chest.

“My eyes are up here, Jake,” Bro stated.

“Not like I can see them through those shades of yours, anyways,” Jake returned.

“Well, I’m not taking them off so-” Bro began.

“Let’s go fuck,” Jake suddenly said, steering Bro’s sentence off course.

“W-what?” he demanded, going completely red this time.

“Let’s go fuck,” Jake repeated, wrapping arms around his neck, “Right now.”

“Yeah, but…” Bro swallowed.

“I know how much we both want this, Dirk,” Jake rolled his eyes, “You’re not _scared,_ are you?”

“Hell no,” he answered, immediately.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Jake cooed, teasingly.

“Absolutely nothing.”

`_`_`_`_`_`_`

  
Dave walked back into his house, stopping when he saw Jake sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of tea, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of his brother’s boxers, a small smile set on his face. Well, at least he knew they actually did _something_ with the opportunity he provided them.

“Oh! Dave, hello,” he turned to the approaching teen, “You’re back.”

“Yeah. I had to go run a book to the library for my friend, Rose,” Dave explained, sitting on the couch beside him, really hoping they had the decency to leave this particular piece of furniture untainted.

“Couldn’t she have done that herself?” Jake asked, an eyebrow raised.

“No, she lives in New York,” Dave explained.

“And she is getting books from your library?” Jake asked, confused.

“They give you two weeks to read it,” Dave shrugged, “That’s more than enough time for her.”

“She’s one of your internet friends, then?” Jake asked, to which Dave nodded. Bro, who had been standing in the doorway, fondly watching their interaction, for a moment now, finally spoke up.

“You gonna tell him about that one who lives in Washington?” Bro teased, walking over and taking the last spot on the couch beside Dave, resting his arm behind the younger Strider’s head.

“Shut up,” he glared, to which Bro laughed.

“What?” Jake blinked, confused, “Who lives in Washington?”

“Oh, just some kid Dave has a huge-” Bro started.

“Bromance with,” Dave interjected, “We are the best of bros. End of story.”

“What was his name, again?” Bro tapped his chin, “Josh? Joan?”

“John!” Dave corrected, “His name is John, you fuckass.”

“Alright, alright,” Jake chuckled, “Let us leave Dave and his little crush alone.”

“It’s not a fucking crush,” Dave huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the back of the couch between the two, staring at the TV that was playing that show he totally wasn’t even interested in. Jake looked over at Bro, lacing their fingers together, to which Bro looked up in surprise.

“ _I missed you,_ ” he mouthed over Dave’s brooding head.

Bro smiled, “ _Missed you, too._ ”

The End.


End file.
